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Civil Defense (episode)
Sisko, Jake, and O'Brien accidentally trigger an old Cardassian security system which believes that the Occupation is still going on and the station has been taken in a Bajoran workers' rebellion. Summary In one of the station's ore processing units, where O'Brien and Jake are deleting old Cardassian files from the computers as part of an effort to convert the facility into a deuterium refinery. Commander Sisko comes in to check on them. In the course of their work, Jake asks for help with removing one of the old files, but when O'Brien attempts to help he triggers a security program. Since O'Brien lacks an appropriate access code, the OPU is locked down and an alert about a worker revolt is transmitted to ops... much to the consternation of the Ops crew. In the OPU a recording of Gul Dukat appears on the display, warning the "workers" that they have eight minutes to end their "revolt." While beginning their effort to escape the OPU Sisko hears from Kira on his combadge, and she tries to beam them out of the OPU without success... since she also lacks the needed access code. Odo then speaks up to the effect that he is also trying to get them out, but that it will take time. Just then Quark walks into the security office, and offers his help. Much to Odo's surprise, Quark reveals in response that he has access codes for clearances one level higher than Odo does - and offers to make an "arrangement" for giving Odo the added level of clearance. Annoyed, Odo asks Quark to leave, but since Quark feels that the Security office is the safest place on the station, he's determined to stay (and annoy Odo just by being there). Still frustrated in their efforts to escape, Sisko announces to the computer that he is the leader of the "revolt" and that they surrender. With the reprieve they gain, they work out a stratagem by which Jake will climb up the ore chute and open a hatch to greater safety than they have in the main area of the OPU. Just then, another recording plays, announcing that the compartment will be filled with neurocine gas in three minutes if the all-clear is not sounded by station security forces. As the three minutes draws to a close, Jake is only then able to open the hatch, and the three of them climb above the gas. However, the computer detects this escape and initiates a counter-insurgency program which locks down ops and security... and dampens combadge signals. Meanwhile Commander Sisko, O'Brien, and Jake have discovered that their combadges don't work, and start trying to break out of an ore receiving area by using a cart as a battering ram against a hatch. They finally give up that approach and figure out a way to blow the hatch with raw uridium ore primed with electricity. In Ops, Dax is trying to regain control of the main computer when her hands are burned by an intrusion countermeasure. This countermeasure also escalates the counter-insurgency program again, an action which a new recording says will result in neurocine being pumped into the station's habitat ring. Just then Garak steps into ops, having made his way through the station with his old but still-valid access codes. After Garak explains what he understands of the situation, the other senior staff decide to disable the station's life support system in order to forestall the release of the gas. Garak is emphatic that such a course of action is the only way to keep the Habitat Ring from being poisoned. Major Kira overloads the life support console with her phaser... which escalates the counter-insurgency program once more. The recording that goes along with the event announces that in two hours the station will self-destruct, and the computer begins the countdown. Sometime later, Dax devises a new plan to disable the security sensors in ops in an effort to hide the fact that Garak is attempting to impersonate Dukat and hack into the computer. However, before the plan can be put fully into action, an alarm is tripped and the counter-insurgency program escalates yet again - now to level four - which causes a maximum-intensity disruptor to be replicated and start firing at high rates throughout ops. One crewman is immediately annihilated. A few minutes later Dukat transports unannounced into ops and explains what he knows of the situation, while the disruptor continues to fire around him. After pausing to replicate a cup of tea, Dukat implies his intention to get something in return for shutting down the counter-insurgency program, and baits Garak into an argument. Once he's done blathering on, he shuts down the disruptor and asks Major Kira to follow him into the station commander's office. There, he offers to shut down the counter-insurgency program, but only in exchange for being allowed to place a Cardassian garrison on the station. Kira refuses those terms. Dukat then leaves the station commander's office and endeavors to transport back to his ship... only to trip a subroutine in the counter-insurgency program meant to account for an effort on Dukat's part to abandon the station in a cowardly manner. Once he gets over himself, Dukat explains that the self-destruct system requires the removal of the power reactor's reaction stabilizers, which would result in the catastrophic overload of the reactor. Dax proposes that this outcome could be forestalled by disabling the reactor's initiator. Back in the ore receiving bay, Sisko and O'Brien successfully blow the hatch which opens to the rest of the station. They try to make their way to ops, but find themselves blocked by force fields. In ops, a plan is worked out to overload the power supplied to the force fields, and it works, also resulting in the restoration of communications (though the force field affecting the Security office turns out to be on a different power system which hasn't been overloaded). Kira immediately explains to Commander Sisko the need to disable the reactor's initiator. He orders the rest of the senior staff to begin evacuating the station while he and O'Brien attempt to shut down the reactor. With only six minutes left until the fusion reactor overloads, Commander Sisko and O'Brien discover that the main corridors leading to the reactor control junction are blocked by debris from the power overload, so they decide to direct the reactor's energy against the station's shields instead, and attempt to go through a burning maintenance conduit in order to reach a suitable control junction. Commander Sisko orders his son to stay behind in the main corridor. O'Brien passes out, but Sisko makes it all the way to the control junction and starts to implement the plan he worked out with O'Brien. While the commander is busy rearranging data rods Jake disobeys his father's orders to pull O'Brien out of the maintenance corridor, which saves O'Brien's life. Sisko gets the last of the data rods replaced at the last instant. Memorable Quotes "Dukat... if you are seeing this recording, it means you tried to abandon your post while the station's self-destruct sequence was engaged. That will not be permitted. You have lost control of Terok Nor, disgracing yourself and Cardassia. Your attempt to escape is no doubt a final act of cowardice. All fail-safes have been eliminated. Your personal access codes have been rescinded. The destruct sequence can no longer be halted. All you can do now is contemplate the depth of your disgrace... and try to die like a Cardassian." : - Legate Kell, in a recording played after Dukat tries to transport off the station "Well, is there anything I can do to help?" "Not unless you have a level nine Cardassian security clearance." "Let's see. I think I have everything from levels one through seven." "I only have levels one through six." "Well. If you'd like a level seven, I'm sure we can make some kind of arrangement." "Leave me alone, Quark." : - Quark and Odo "You know, I never knew how much this man's voice annoyed me." : - Commander Sisko, to Chief O'Brien while a recording of Dukat blathers in the background "You know, I've been here nearly three years and I was just finally starting to think of this place as home." "Your home was built by Cardassians, doctor. Don't ever forget that." "Well, there's not much chance of that, is there?" : - Bashir and Kira "This force field isn't just protecting the door, it goes through the bulkheads, the ceiling, the deck... there's nowhere for me to go." "You're telling me I'm stuck here? With you?" "No! I'm stuck here, with you! Believe me, a far worse fate... and stay away from my computer!" : - Odo and Quark "Ironic, isn't it? The only place in the galaxy that still recognizes my access code is a Bajoran space station." : - Garak "I should've listened to my father. He always warned me this was going to happen." "What, that you'd spend your final hours in jail? I could've told you that." : - Quark and Odo "Where's Commander Sisko? I trust he wasn't vaporized, while asking for one of those raktajinos he's so fond of?" : - Dukat "I suppose during the Occupation, the Cardassians considered their security chief a security risk." "And I know why." "Oh, do you?" "It's because they knew you were an honorable man. The kind of person who would do the right thing regardless of the circumstances. And now, your integrity... is going to get us both killed. I hope you're happy!" : - Odo and Quark "I thought your father told you to stay out of there!" "If you don't tell him, I won't." : - O'Brien and Jake "'A self-important con artist who is nowhere near as clever as he thinks.' That's your official security evaluation of me." "Quark, I told you to stay away from the computer." "Two hours ago, you told me I was the most devious Ferengi you ever met!" "I thought we were going to die, I was trying to be nice." : - Odo and Quark Background *This episode had an extremely difficult gestation. According to Ira Steven Behr, "It was one of those back-breaking, horrible, horrible experiences," although he does acknowledge that "it was terrific at the end." The original pitch by Mike Krohn was intended as a bottle show, and while the basic man-against-machine element of the plot was fine, the problem, according to Ronald D. Moore, was in trying to find a way "to make the jeopardy intriguing, to find the inner story." By the time of production, virtually every writer on the staff had had a go at the script, but every single draft was rejected by Michael Piller. According to Behr, Piller called him at 8.00am on a Monday morning to tell him, "I hate to say this Ira, but I'm not buying any of it - it's not working." In the end, after much work, the staff finally got together a script which Piller approved, and the episode was green-lit, but even then, there were more problems. According to Behr, "The writing process turned out as painful and disgusting as we thought it would be." However, he does acknowledge that "in the end, it turned out solid, with some nice twists and some great stuff for Garak and Dukat, and the paired up teams." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) *"Civil Defense" resembles the ''Voyager'' episode . In both episodes the crew trigger a computer program which they are unable to shut down and which proves life-threatening. In "Civil Defense", the program becoming a threat to the crew was accidental. In "Worst Case Scenario", however, the program had been placed there specifically for that purpose. *This episode builds upon the antagonism between Gul Dukat and Garak which was first hinted at in the second season episode . It would next be seen in the fourth season episode . *This is the first episode where we see Dukat express a desire for Kira, something that would return many times in the future, perhaps seen at its most forceful in the fourth season episode and the sixth season episode . In this episode however, his attempt to impress her is treated humorously, something which displeased Nana Visitor. According to Visitor, "I would have liked my character to make the point that only a few years earlier, Dukat's wanting me would have meant that he could have had me, and I wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it. So it shouldn't have been seen as a 'cute' moment. It was actually a horrifying moment, one that would make Kira feel disgust and panic. To Kira, Dukat is Hitler. She's not ever going to get over that. She can ''never forgive him, and that is important to me. Kira may have started to see Cardassians as individuals, but she will always hate Dukat''." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) In subsequent episodes, Dukat's longing for Kira would take on a much less humorous tone. *The belt which Odo wore for the first six episodes of this season disappears in this episode. Rene Auberjonois had originally asked for the belt because he liked the look of the belt which costume designer Robert Blackman had designed for the all-black outfit in . However, on the beige costume, Auberjonois felt that the belt looked "Buck Rogers-y" and asked if he could remove it. Kira finally notices the difference in . (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) *This episode was the first to mention Quark's cousin, Gaila. Josh Pais plays the character in the episodes (Season 5) and (Season 6). *Referenced Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: #75 ("Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of latinum") Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.4, . *As part of the DS9 Season 3 DVD collection. Links and References Guest Stars * Andrew Robinson as Elim Garak * Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat * Danny Goldring as Legate Kell Uncredited Co-Stars * Ivor Bartels as stunt double for Cirroc Lofton References con artist; counter-insurgency program; Demilitarized Zone; Dukat's father; Frin; fusion reactor; Gaila; Gaila's moon; infirmary; Kell; laser fusion initiator; latinum; maintenance conduit; neutralization emitter; Occupation of Bajor; plasma conduit; plasma fire; racquetball; Tye; Zek |next= }} Category:DS9 episodes de:In der Falle es:Civil Defense nl:Civil Defense